1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses and information processing methods, and more specifically to an information processing apparatus, which is preferably used for performing an authentication process using a plurality of authentication process methods, and an information processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a method for user authentication, for example, when a cash card or credit card is used, a signature, password, or the like has often been required.
The signature, however, can be easily counterfeited, and the password can also be easily entered even by another person once the password is compromised, which thereby permits another person who impersonates the authentic user to use the cash card or credit card.
To prevent such impersonation, for example, a technique for performing an authentication process utilizing biometric information such as a fingerprint has been making progress. The biometric information is certainly more secured, i.e., more difficult to counterfeit, than a signature or password.
Even by an authentication process using biometric information, some incidents have been reported that image data was collected from a fingerprint left on glass or the like and a counterfeit finger was created and was authenticated by a commercially-available fingerprint verification device. In this manner, authentication using a single piece of information cannot be said to completely prevent impersonation.
Thus, a plurality of pieces of authentication information is further used to perform user authentication in some cases. However, such a need for an authentication process with a plurality of pieces of information causes considerable inconvenience to both a user and a store that executes an authentication process, especially when the user is making a very inexpensive purchase or when the user is shopping at a store to which he or she frequently goes. Thus, such an authentication could impair the convenience of the use of a cash card or credit card. In particular, an authentication process using biometric information often involves a complicated process such as image processing, so that an authentication process executed with a plurality of pieces of information requires a tremendous amount of processing time.